Ralph de la Torre, the controversial chief executive officer of one of the nation’s largest private health systems, Steward Health Care System, will step down from his position Oct. 1.

Ralph de la Torre will step down as CEO of troubled Steward Health Care next week, the company said on Saturday, after he was held in criminal contempt by the U.S. Senate for refusing to testify about cost-cutting decisions at the group's 31 hospitals before it filed for bankruptcy.

Steward Health Care leaves behind a hospital landscape that has been weakened by the company's meltdown and its closure of five hospitals over the past decade.

Steward Health Care CEO Ralph de la Torre will be stepping down after refusing to testify before a U.S. Senate panel on how his health care company went belly up — earning him a referral to a

The U.S. Senate approved a resolution Wednesday intended to hold Steward Health Care CEO Ralph de la Torre in criminal contempt.

With his affinity for luxury yachts and corporate jets, de la Torre became a symbol of greed in for-profit health care, amid mounting stories this year of patients harmed by staff and shortages of critical supplies at Steward hospitals.

Ralph de la Torre, CEO of Steward Health Care System LLC, has “amicably separated from Steward on mutually agreeable terms.” That’s according to a statement released by a spokesman for de la Torre. The resignation comes

De la Torre's resignation comes as proceedings continue in Steward's Chapter 11 bankruptcy, which so far have resulted in the closure or transfer of seven Massachusetts hospitals.

Ralph de la Torre will resign as CEO of Steward Health Care, more than nine months after reports of the for-profit hospital chain’s financial problems first began to surface.